One year ago
»» Platinum Partners was profiled in AR for its unusual investment process, which had led Mark Nordlicht’s firm to finance plaintiffs in personal injury cases, convenience stores in Chinese post offices, and handheld bomb-detection devices, among other deals.
Platinum has since continued to show strong performance. Its Value Arbitrage strategy, a perennial contender at the annual AR Awards, has done particularly well. The fund gained 21.03% last year (data here), compared with a 0.08% rise for the AR Multistrategy Index. In addition, the firm has grown from $930 million to $1.1 billion in the past year, said Platinum president Uri Landsman.
See also: Platinum Partners proves its mettle • Honoring the best in a volatile year
»» Michael Hintze was rebuilding CQS, the London hedge fund powerhouse that was hit hard in the 2008 financial tumult. Assets were back up to $10.5 billion ($6.3 billion in hedge funds), from $6 billion directly after the crisis.
The firm’s hedge fund growth has continued, and it now manages $6.7 billion in hedge fund assets, according to the latest HedgeFund Intelligence global Billion Dollar Club ranking. Overall, CQS now manages $11.5 billion. Its flagship $1.9 billion asset-backed securities fund is up 3.98% for the year through March, compared to a 2.30% return for the AR Fixed Income Index. That fund was soft-closed last year.
CQS was not immediately available for comment
See also: CQS’ Hintze attends royal wedding
Five years ago
»» In his first public speech since retiring four months prior, notable short seller David Rocker embarked on a new crusade to reform the legal system. “Litigation is a disaster whether you win or lose,” Rocker said at the CFA Institute Annual Conference of financial analysts and portfolio managers in New York this week.
Rocker had been under attack for expressing negative views on companies he was shorting, including Overstock.com. In late 2008, he paid $5 million to settle Overstock’s claims. A year later, he was back on the offensive, urging Congress to set aside its rhetoric against short sellers, whom some have blamed for exacerbating the financial crisis.
“As individuals may be expected to act in their self-interest, the short seller is the only market participant who can provide the investing public with an alternative perspective to balance the otherwise overwhelmingly bullish information coming into the marketplace,” Rocker told AR last year.
He did not immediately return a request for comment.
See also: Rocker’s passion for shorting • The Rocker files: A thickening plot